Several devices have been proposed to hold trash bags made from paper or thin plastic film. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,031 describes a trash bag assembly and holder which is employed to hold the trash bag open while trash is placed in the bag. This device is especially useful when a person placing the trash in the bag has his or her hands full of trash and cannot hold the bag open. However, the device requires numerous metal components and is therefore expensive to produce and cannot easily be stored in a confined space. The vast majority of the other devices developed to solve this problem are complex in construction and have many parts which need assembly. Although these devices once assembled are able to hold the bag open, the assembly and disassembly times make these devices unappealing. Moreover, a significant portion of the prior art consists of devices that are made from metal wire or metal brackets. Although metal is generally sturdy, it is expensive, prone to bending and most of the metal pieces are subject to corrosion and to rusting over time. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,724 discloses a container with four walls and a bottom, but it can only be used on the outside of a bag that has carrying handles.
Consequently, there remains a need for an inexpensive, simple, sturdy, easy to store, rustproof device that adequately holds the bag in the proper configuration to receive refuse, leaves and other trash.
In view of these and other shortcomings of the prior art, it is one object of the present invention to provide a trash bag expanding form and holder which is inexpensive to produce and yet will hold any of several sizes of non-self-supporting trash bags such as 33-, 39- and 45-gallon trash bags in an expanded condition to facilitate filling them with leaves or other trash.
Another object of the invention is to provide an expandable form for trash bags that can be readily inserted into a flimsy plastic trash bag without damaging the bag and protects the bag from being punctured, e.g. by twigs that are placed in the bag with the leaves, yet can be collapsed to form a small bundle for shipment, display or storage and is durable enough to be used by a typical household for several years.
A further object is to provide a trash bag expanding form that will hold a bag open and is capable of holding the upper edge of a flimsy bag in place near the top of the form.
These and other more detailed and specific objects of the present invention will be better understood by reference to the following figures and detailed description which illustrate by way of example but a few of the various forms of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.